Iraq fears escalation after deadly rocket attack, air strike

US troops supervise a training session at the Taji camp, north of Baghdad - the site of the Wednesday night rocket attack

BAGHDAD AFP, 12 March, 2020- Iraqi and United Nations officials scrambled Thursday to contain the fallout from an unprecedented rocket attack that killed three US-led coalition members and threatened yet another escalation of Iran-US tensions.   

Within hours of the attack on Taji air base, north of Baghdad -- the deadliest in years on a base used by US forces in Iraq -- an air strike killed more than two dozen Iran-aligned fighters in neighbouring Syria.   

It marked a dramatic uptick in violence less than three months after rockets killed a US contractor in northern Iraq, unleashing a round of tit-for-tat attacks between Washington and Tehran on Iraqi soil.   

Fearing an even bloodier flare-up this time, Iraqi officials and the United Nations were quick to condemn the coalition deaths.   

Iraq’s military command said it was “a serious security challenge” and pledged to open an investigation.   

The UN mission in Iraq called for “maximum restraint on all sides”.